Upgrading the old style incandescent headlights on an Athearn Ready To Run SD60 locomotive. I ran into a problem of extreme light bleed from the headlight housing and came up with a solution for fixing this problem.
Creating a fibre optic like tube out of tin foil channels the light and stops it from escaping out the sides of the plastic housing. It also has the added bonus of increasing the brightness of the headlight since there is no light being lost.
Simply cut a small rectangle out of aluminum foil. The width is a function of how long the housing is, I found that you want it to be just slightly shorter than the housing. The length is enough so the foil makes a little more than one wrap around the drill bit. Any more and it increases the diameter of the tube and makes it harder to fit into the housing.
Use the smooth end of the drill bit that fits the headlight and wrap some tape around roughly 1/2" or 1 cm from the end evenly so you have a backstop to help push the foil into the housing. Wrap the rectangle of aluminum foil tightly around the drill bit.
Spin the drill bit the direction so that the tail of the aluminum foil is trailing as you slide it into the headlight housing.
Once it's as far as you want it in, rotate the other way as you pull it out so the roll expands and fits the headlight hole nicely.
Put a piece of electrical tape into the roof of the cab where it meets the light tube to help reduce any stray light bleed. Carefully install the LED so it shines into the tube without crushing the ends of it. Finally when you are happy with it gently put some sticky tack around it to seal up the cab and protect against any light bleed coming down.
The LEDs I use are 603 SMD "Sunny White" LEDs from the LED Baron on eBay. The leads are #36 magnet wire.
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Негізгі бет Ойын-сауық How To Fix Light Bleed On HO Scale Locomotive Headlights
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